The Essential Steps of Product Development Process

The product development process is the cycle that a new product has to undergo from conceptualization to the final introduction into the market. Trends are changing faster than ever, so product managers have to continuously iterate the product to stay on top of the market.

Conceive

Idea conception is the initial phase of the product development process. In this phase, product managers collect insights about user needs and pain points, brainstorm with internal and external stakeholders, evaluate competing products, and analyze use cases.

Planning

Planning lays down the foundation for all the other phases of product development. Proper planning will help in developing a better product. In this phase, we will develop a business case, do extensive market research, conduct customer interviews, and confirm that the problem exists. The next step is to perform a SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats existing in the market.

Design

By now, we know there is a problem, and we may have a solution for it. We will then develop a product requirements document (PRD) that includes a high-level design with a list of features, estimated timelines & budget, resources, and target customers. We then create a roadmap with a list of features to be added. We will also design wireframes and storyboards to get a basic idea of what we need to develop.

Develop & Iterate

We will then design, build, test, and repeat until we reach consensus with the customer and stakeholders and develop a Minimum Viable Product. We will gather feedback from users and stakeholders throughout the development process to ensure that the product meets their needs. We will also perform A/B testing before we launch the product.

The Launch

We then launch the product with the help of the marketing, sales, PR, and legal teams. The market research conducted during the planning phase influences the timing and location of the product launch.

Growth & Iterations

We collect metrics on user behavior and performance of our product in the market, such as user engagement, retention, and conversion rates. We then optimize metrics to get the maximum return on investment (ROI). We iterate the product based on the roadmap, market trends, product & company vision, competitor analysis, and so on. The goal of the product team is now to take it forward and make it a big success.

Maintain/Kill

We then decide to maintain the product or end its life based on the performance and metrics analysis of the product. We may even kill the product if it doesn’t align with the company’s vision anymore. Key metrics to observe here are:

• Number of purchases or sign-ups
• Market share compared to competitors
• Costs of maintaining the product
• Return on Investment (ROI)

Each phase is vital for the success of the product. Big companies invest months, even years, in developing innovative products.